Guardian:
Savage cuts to budgets for hardware and facilities will
transform scientific research in the UK, writes Ian Sample for
the
Guardian. Top-end equipment will be concentrated in
elite universities and government centers, leaving researchers
elsewhere to strike deals to get access to the facilities.
Starting this month, scientists can apply to research councils
for half the cost of lab equipment valued between
£10 000 ($16 820) and £121 588
($197 960) and must find the rest of the money from other
sources. Research councils can choose to cover the full cost of
more expensive equipment, but will decide where any facilities
are based. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council, whose budget will fall from £49 million ($80
million) in 2010–11 to £25 million ($41 million) in
2013–14, said it would reform equipment sharing and might
pull out of some facilities to better fund leading centers. The
Institute of Physics said that the lack of capital funds was
likely to affect the UK's ability to take a leading role in the
European Extremely Large Telescope, an observatory to be based
in Chile.
